Unsolved Mystery

Hi! A problem keeps showing up when I take water in to be tested and they or I can't figure it out. They use Pinpoint testing and when they do the total chlorine, it turns brown. We do have ferrous iron in our water, but why doesn't the pool water turn brown too?

We have a Splash pool, about 16000 gal. We use a Goldline salt system. A test strip they use for checking salt levels show the salt is too high. The system says it's around 2600 ppm, about the middle of the range. Alkalinity is very low, even after adding about 15 lbs. Calcium has disappeared, even though it was in balance a month or more ago. They tested phosphate for the first time and it was came out high; 750-800 (I don't recall the measurement used). The free chlorine test turns pink, then clear. Total chlorine is high, even thought I have the system set for 20% output. They're having me add Sea Clear for the phosphates, mineral remover, and alk, increaser. Which order should I add them and how long between? They thought the alk increaser first, then the Sea Clear, but weren't sure when to add the mineral remover. I should add that we also have manganese in our water. I added mineral remover a week or so ago thinking it would change the brown results, but it didn't. My navy blue shorts turned brown the last time I was in, before we knew of the strange test results. We've had the whole pool turn brown before because of iron being brought out of solution.

We will probably clean the cell in the salt system to see if it's part of the problem. So if any of you have any clues for me, I'd appreciate hearing them. Thanks!

1 more thing, It says my last visit was in 1969. LOL! If it was, there's another msytery!